I don't typically peruse the end of the year lists. You know the ones, the top ten news stories or notable famous people who died this past year. Those sorts of stories are usually depressing anyway. As I was scrolling through the days headlines though one jumped out at me. The story was entitled Things Babies Born in 2011 Will Never Know.
Having had a baby in the Spring of 2010, I figured this list still applies and a lot of it applies to my first grader as well. Some of the items on the list were obvious to me like video tapes and VCR's. We don't have those in our house and haven't for many years. But many of the things I have grown up with and had me thinking, "hmmm well yeah, I guess he is right. Weird."
My favorite from the list is the author points out that kids born this year will never know what it is like to argue the unknowable as they will always have the world's knowledge at their fingertips. Gone are the days where you can argue about some random fact in a bar with your friends because now you can all look it up. It really made me wonder what their adult lives will be like. What will happen to snail mail service? Will they finally stop teaching cursive in schools? Maybe I should start saving all those paper maps in our closet. They might be worth something someday.
